Effective development co-operation

Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action

At the Second High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (2005) it was recognised that aid could - and should - be producing better impacts. The Paris Declaration was endorsed in order to base development efforts on first-hand experience of what works and does not work with aid. It is formulated around five central pillars: Ownership, Alignment, Harmonisation, Managing for Results and Mutual Accountability.

In 2008 at the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness an even greater number and wider diversity of stakeholders endorsed the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA). The AAA both reaffirms commitment to the Paris Declaration and calls for greater partnership between different parties working on aid and development.

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness

The Paris Declaration (2005) is a practical, action-oriented roadmap to improve the quality of aid and its impact on development. It gives a series of specific implementation measures and establishes a monitoring system to assess progress and ensure that donors and recipients hold each other accountable for their commitments. The Paris Declaration outlines the following five fundamental principles for making aid more effective:

Ownership: Developing countries set their own strategies for poverty reduction, improve their institutions and tackle corruption.

Alignment: Donor countries align behind these objectives and use local systems.

Results: Developing countries and donors shift focus to development results and results get measured.

Mutualaccountability: Donors and partners are accountable for development results.

The Accra Agenda for Action

Designed to strengthen and deepen implementation of the Paris Declaration, the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA, 2008) takes stock of progress and sets the agenda for accelerated advancement towards the Paris targets. It proposes the following four main areas for improvement:

Ownership: Countries have more say over their development processes through wider participation in development policy formulation, stronger leadership on aid co-ordination and more use of country systems for aid delivery.

Inclusive partnerships: All partners - including donors in the OECD Development Assistance Committee and developing countries, as well as other donors, foundations and civil society - participate fully.

Delivering results: Aid is focused on real and measurable impact on development.

Capacity development - to build the ability of countries to manage their own future - also lies at the heart of the AAA.

Monitoring the Paris Declaration

The Paris Declaration establishes targets that countries committed to achieve by 2010. The Paris Declaration Monitoring Survey is the tool through which countries are assessed on the commitments they made to each other to improve aid effectiveness by 2010. Three rounds of monitoring were carried out: the 2006 Monitoring Survey established the baseline, in 2008 the monitoring survey took stock of progress at the half-way point, the final 2011 monitoring survey established that out of 12 measurable commitments, only one had been fully achieved. However, there had been notable progress towards achieving some of the other commitments.